THE BATSITE

THE BIG SCREEN DEBUT!

A Brief History Part 3 - THE BIG SCREEN DEBUT!

In 1943, within five years of Batman's creation, Columbia Pictures introduced Batman and Robin to
the cinema by means of a 15 episode film serial. Starring Lewis Wilson as Batman and Douglas Croft
as Robin, the serial was simply titled Batman. As with most Columbia serials of the time, it was
shot on a shoestring budget. Although we were introduced to the Batcave by means of this series,
no attempt was made to construct a Batmobile. Therefore, our Superheroes had to suffer the indignity
of relying on a black Cadillac as their means of transport.

In 1949, Columbia released another 15 episode film serial which was called Batman
and Robin (AKA: The Return of Batman). This time around, Robert Lowery played Batman and John Duncan
was Robin. With an even smaller budget than the 1943 serial, Batman gets to drive a Mercury Convertible
as a pathetic substitute to a Batmobile.

In 1965 the original serial from 1943 was fused together and re-released as An
Evening with Batman and Robin. This strategy proved to be a huge success.